Machine for correcting printing plates



.Feb. 8. 1927.

Y E. ERlcKssoN MACHINE FOR CORRECTING PRINTING PLATES Filed March 15, 1924 "s Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 8, 1927 I 1,617,203 I E. ERICKSSON MACHINE FOR CORRECTING PRINTING PLATES I v Filed Marchl3, 1924 s Sheets-Sheet 2 n q Q Q Q I 2' W m m 7 M Inventor:

Feb. 8, 1927. 1,617,203

E. E RICKSSON- MACHINE FOR CORRECTING PRINTING PLATES Filed March 13. 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Feb. 8, 1e27,;

entree is rates v EMIL nmcnssoiv,

- cnrcaco; rnnrnezs, conronarro v or rLLinors.

MACHINE non oonnnorrne PRINTING PLATES.

- Application filed March 13, 1924. Serial No. 698,930.

printing plate, serve to level down the print mg surface.of.the plate into plane contact with the supportingplate of the machinef thereby correcting the printing. surface, and these pressers act in; conjunction with a shaving knife whichserves to shave off the inequalities which are all transferred and pressed up into'the reverse surface. The

conjoint action of theseinstrumentaflities plates may be rapidly fed into the machine andcorrected without the necessity for per-' forming separate and distinct operations of F the character commonly employed at the present time in the correction of plates."

' 'Iihe invention also relates to thenieans provided for securing exact adjustment of the mechanisms, so that the resulta-ntthickness of the plate canbe gauged to exact dime'nsions, which is an important feature in the correction of plates for printing -purposes. by g r .111 theidrawings: V r V Figure 1' is a plan view of theinachine asajwhole; 'm Y 1" Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation ,j thereof; i Fig.3

view showing rthe pressersf partly in elevat'i'onzandlpartly in section; w I "FigQ iflis asectional letail ofone ofthe pressersand the shaving knife; and I Fig; 5'is atperspectiveshowing,fthe shavin'g' knife on the reverse surface of theprintingplatev v. wi The machine as a wholecomp'risesa base which supports astandard 11 of rugged construction, which standard at its '-upper edge is provided with flanges 12 to which is 7 bolted a bob: likehousing 13 comprising a base wall 14, side walls 15 and a top "cross wall 16,- which' latterfexten ds only over a portion offthe housing.

" flThe'housing also comprises a front' end upon which the Y bearing against the reverse surface of the 0 completes the action on the plate so that the V I threaded therein the inner end fof lanadjust fwall connects the two side walls n'cnrcaeo, I LrnoIs, Assrernon'ro e/nintn coMrAnY on The front wall has formed l elong its I upper inner edge aflange 18. in parallel relation with the top cross wall 16, andthe rectangular space thus provided between the side wall's'15 furnishes an opening for the housing'of; a verticallvadjustable table 19 d V printing plate-2O is laid facedownwards.

"'l betahle 19 isprovi'dedivith depending sides 2]; which hear-against theinner faces O'i, 'tl1e$1d walls Y15 and are guided there-' by. The lower-edges oft-he tahlesides 21 are diagonally stepped to] afford bearing edges 22, offset with respect to one another,

which'edges are supportedi'ttpon the similarly formed diagonally/ stepped edges 23 of; a pair ofadjusting slides24" which Q'ar e united by a cross web 25. V ,The cross web 25 at'its front 'end has formed thereon a. socketlblock 26 which has int; screw. 27, which terminates in a spindle c 28. which is journaled within-the journal block 29 carriedby the front endwall 17 i I of the housing. hand wheelBO, provided on its periphery witlrgraduations 31, serves 7 adjusted to an exact degree.

' The sidewalls 15 of the housingarepro- :vided along their upper edges withguide I flanges 32 which afi'ord' guideways for a is adiagonal transversesectional r I V are arranged one inadvance of the otheron [opposite sides of thehOusingQQThe riders I pairlof riders '33 which, as shown in Fig. 1,

servef'as supports for adiagonally arranged frontbridgefii'tand adiagonally arranged V rear bridge 35 which bridges are of, rugged construction and 'extend across the surface of the table 1n elevated relation w th respect t ereto- I a.

"The front bridge 34: is'providedfjwitha plurality of bores 36ieach ofwhich, is shouldered at its lower end 37 ,a'ndis closedat its upper end by means of. a screw plug 38 pro-. videdlwith a smooth center bore 89. The bore serves asiguidje forthe steintO ,Qfa'

presser shoef ll a coil spring being housed withiiithe-bore 36fit'o"exert a dowfnwiard pressure against a: collar 43; on the stem.

' "bridge 85.

The tension of the spring can be regulated by adjustment of the screw plug 38, which is provided at its upper end with a squared head 44. v V I Each of the shoes 41 is rounded on its under surface and terminates in a rearwardly extending toe 45,:and the entire line or"- toes extend into close aroxiinit to a shavin 1 D knife 46, which also extends in oblique relation to the tabletop and is supported in oblique relation upon the rear face-of the forward The knife is provided with a plurality of vertical slots 47, each of which receives a clamping bolt 48 to clamp the knife in position. Vertical adjustment of :the knife may be effected by the turning of a series of adjusting screws 49 whichare entered througha plurality of overhanging brackets '50 and bear against the .upper edge of the knife. J v

Each of'the riders 33 has secured thereto a rearwardly .extendin rack 51, which racks extend in parallel re ation along the upper edge of the housing, and each of the racks is in mesh with a pinion 52, which pinions are carried by aatransverse shaft 53 journale'd within brackets 54 secured to the sides of the housing. At one end of the shaft is a large gear wheel 55 which is driven through a train of gearing 56 driven by a inotor57 supportednponthe base of the ma- In order to heat the table which supports .the printing plates, and thereby render the same more pliable, a plurality of gas burners'58 are providedwhich are located directly beneath the adjustable table 19 upon which the plate is supported. In order to prevent displacement of the plate while bespace for the positioning of the printing plate against the stop 59, the motor is stopped, and the table 19 is elevated by the turning of the gear wheel'tofbring the sur-V -face of 'the table into a predetermined space relation to the edge of the shaving knife.

' The presser shoes are regulated to afford the required degree of pressure and after the plate has been heated to'the desired degree '{by contact with the table surface, the motor is started in the reversedirection to move the oarriagetowardthe front. Asithe presser shoes engage 'theplate they will exert the degree of pressure required to press the printing surface of the plate into firm contact w th the plane surface of the table, so that all inequalities of the printing sur face will be eliminated and will be translarge number of plates to be corrected in rapid succession and substantial uniformity, and obviates repeated handlings of the plates, which not only involvea waste of time, "but also involve a risk of inari'ing :the plates during the successive stages of correction.

The use of a considerable numb'er of inindividual pressers, permits eachpo-rtion of the plate to be momentarilycontacted, so

that local inequalities in the printing surface will'be smoothed out without the application of undue pressure which might tend toinar the printing surface,aiid the space relation of the presser shoes permits the metal of the plate to readily adapt itself to the compressive influence of the pressers.

Although the invention has been shown in form adapted for the correction of plane flat plates, the principles involved are applicable to the correction of cylindrical plates,

and will, therefore, be understood in the claims, that where reference is made to a relative longitudinal movement between the carriage and the table, that the term longitudi-nal is intended to embrace and include not only straight'line movements but movements of an arcuatecharacter such as v to maintain parallelism between the surface of the plate and the correcting tools which coaot therewith.

7 I claim:

: 1. In a machine for correctingprinting plates, the combination of a standard,-.a

longitudinally disposed housing supported by the standard, a table sl-idably mounted within the housing in position top-ernntvertical movement of the table, means -for ver-- ticall y adjusting the table with respect to the housing, said means including a slidable' plate havingan oblique surface contact with an obliquely configured portion of the table, and means for longitudinally adjusting the I slide plate, a carriage slidablv mounted with,

respect to the housing and. table carried thereby, said carriage 'includingfla bridge portion spanning the table and guide in'ei'n,- bei's 'slidab'ly e 'aa'ing'the housing tto ad'u'iit of longitudinal adjustment of the carriage, a plurality of spring backed pressers carried by the carriage, a knife carried by the carriagelinco-acting relation with the pressers,

dIit'lJllGtUlS for effecting longitudinal moveinent of the carriage, substantially as described. Y

2. In a machine forcorrecting printing,

plates, the combination of a standard, a

longitudinally disposed housing supportedby the standard, a table slidably mounted within the housing in positionto permit vertical movement of the table, means for, ver- I slide plate, a carriage slidahly mounted with mounted within said apertureand adaptedfor vertical adjustment therein, means, for vertically adjusting the table with respect to p the housing, said means including a stepped respect to the housing and table carried thereby, said carnage including a bridge portion spanning the table and guide members slidably engaging the housing to admit of longitudinal adjustment of the carriage, a plurality of sprlng backed pres-sers car ried by the carriage, a knife carried by the carriage in co-acting relation with the pressers, and means for effecting longitudinal movement of the carriage, said means including a rack secured to and longitudinally extending from the carriage, and a gear meshing with said rack, substantially as described. 1 y

3. In a machine for correcting printing plates, the combination" of a standard, a housing supported by the standard .andprovided with an aperture therein, a table flange secured to the table, the steps thereof being arranged to present obliquely disposed contact edges downwardly, a slide plate coacting with said stepped flange and provided with a series of steps disposed to present oblique contactin edges upwardly in contact wlth the stepped surfaces .ofthe flange, screw means for advancing and withdrawing the slide plate to impart vertical adjustment to the table, a carriage'provided with a bridge portion obliquely spanning the housing and tablecarried thereby and provided with guide portions adapted to slidably engage the housing on opposite sides of the table, aplurality of spring backed pressers carried by thecarriage, a knife carried by the-carria-ge in co acting' relation with'the presser's, and means for effecting longitudinal movements of the carriage with *respect to the table surface, substantially as described.

' 4. In a .machineafor correcting printing plates, the .comblnatlon of a standard,a housing supportedby't-he standard and provided, withv an aperture therein, atable mounted within said aperture and adapted for vertical adjustment 'therein, means for vertically adjusting the table with respect to the housing, said means including a-stepped flange 1 secured. .to the table,the steps thereof heme:

arranged to present obliquely disposed con tact edges downwardly, aslide plate co-act-' ing with said steppedflange and provided with a series of steps disposed to presentoblique contacting edges upwardly in con tact with the stepped surfaces'of the flange,

screw means foradvancing'and withdrawing the slideplate to impart.vertical adjustment to'the table,'a carriageprov-ided with a bridge portion obliquely spanning the housing and table carried thereby and provided with guide portions adapted to slidably'engage the housing on opposite relation with the pressers, means for effectsides of the table, a plurality .of spring baekedpressers carried by the carriage, a 1 knife carried by theearriage inco-acting ing longitudinal movements of the carriage jwith respect to the table surface, said'means' including a pair of parallel racks longitudinally extending from the carriage in paral'-- lel relation to the plane of movement of the carriage, a shaft extending across the racks,

and gear members onl said shaft. engaging the respective racks, substantially as described. V 1 EMIL ER ICKSSON- T 

